This whole situation was becoming more insane by the minute. The level of absurdity and risk was just about immeasurable, for not only was everyone here risking their lives, but I was also risking my sanity, in more ways than one. Being captured and tortured again might send me over the edge if I had to endure it for a long time again, but I could say with certainty that if Kala got hurt, I would devolve almost immediately.
I once again reaffirmed my desire to protect her as I brought our embrace to an end. She smiled at me as I stared into her eyes, feeling completely bewildered at just how brazen and courageous she was. Whenever she set her mind to something, she would not falter in her conviction until she had completed her goal. Still, I wondered how she got Durdan to agree to this, as she was not a soldier in the standard sense of the word.
“I’m a little afraid to ask, but what the hell did you say to Durdan to get him to agree with sending you?” I asked.
She smirked. “More or less the same thing I told you. It didn’t hurt that I have experience acting as a slave that I could put to use as well. I also made it abundantly clear that it didn’t matter if I got permission or not, I was going even if I had to sneak out of camp and follow you.”
My mouth opened to exclaim my complete amazement at her attitude, but in the end, it just hung there like I was a gaping fish. I managed to recover enough to shake my head at her. “I’m not sure if I should be impressed that you managed to bend a general of a literal army to your will or concerned that you may have a screw loose for doing something so reckless.”
“You could just stand in awe of my powers of persuasion. Might even win you some extra points with me too.” She said with a playful smile.
That made me chuckle a little. “I’m not so sure I should encourage bad behavior.”
She huffed and feigned pouting. “Fine, no points for you then.”
I chuckled at her once more before finally going back to the loading process for the cart. There was a significant amount of food being packed. It made sense considering we didn’t know how long we would be out there. Out of curiosity, I cracked the top on one of the boxes to see what was inside.
It was a bunch of fabric, seemingly of a decent quality. I investigated some other boxes and came up with a hodgepodge of items. Silverware in one box, a few tea sets in another, and there were some rolled up tapestries in a third. I didn’t check the other boxes, but I got the feeling that these items were stolen from other merchants in the midst of raids or attacks. Hopefully I didn’t suffer a similar fate in the middle of the mission.
Assorted tools were packed into the back in quantities that made it seem like they were intended to be sold and not used for breaking into things. Hatchets, hammers, picks, chisels, rope, saws, all in sets of several. I didn’t know if any of it would be useful, but there was no harm in being over prepared. There was supposed to be money involved in this as well, but I figured they would hand it over tomorrow when we were actually going to leave.
In the midst of my inspection of the supplies we were transporting, I failed to notice the approach of a pair of Trelnval until they spoke up. “Excuse us, Sir James.”
I turned towards the two blue ladies, one of which carried a satchel around her shoulder, with a slightly questioning look. “You can drop the Sir. Can I help you with something?”
“Actually s-, err, James, we are here to help you with your disguise.”
That got my attention. “Oh, that sounds interesting. What did you have in mind?”
“First, might you follow us to the river, we are to bathe you and make sure you carry the scent of a Thrainian.”
“Wait, you’re going to bathe me?”
“That is correct.”
I could feel my ears heat up a little. “Uhm, you don’t have to do that, I can always bathe myself.”
“Please S-” she sighed as she corrected herself again, “James, it is our job to make sure you are at a certain standard. This will be a professional interaction and there is no need for embarrassment.”
Her reassurances were not working well for me, but I got the feeling that the pair would not relent on performing their task. In the end I could only submit and follow along with them, a little sheepishly if I were being honest. When we got to the river, they were rather blunt about the procedure.
“Please strip down and enter the water.”
Now I was quite sure that my face was flushed. After seeing my hesitation, the ladies turned around to offer me some measure of privacy during the process. I appreciated it and got undressed before quickly slipping into the cool water.
Once half submerged, the ladies came in after me with bars of what I assumed was soap that they had removed from the satchel. I actually hadn’t had access to soap for my entire stay in this world and was starting to look forward to a deep cleansing.
As they started to splash water over me and scrub with the bars of soap, I covered myself as much as possible to preserve some of my humility. It was a very intimate experience, and they were not shy in the slightest. My body was assaulted from every angle by the cleaning substances as they manipulated my limbs into more advantageous positions for a scrubbing. More than a few times they went to a sensitive area, and I could not help but jump as they did before turning a rather bright shade of red.
It felt like an eternity as they went over my every inch. Eventually, they finally managed to get me completely clean, and I was allowed to exit the water and dry off. After I was dry and dressed again, the ladies then directed me back into the camp to try on some clothes.
It seemed some of the higher quality clothes were kept separate from the regular pile that I had grown accustomed to. There was a tent further back in the camp that was apparently used for storing some of the more valuable items. Inside one of the boxes that littered the place, there were clothes that had been neatly folded and placed inside.
Each one of these was of a significantly higher quality than normal articles that you might find. Frills, embroideries, bright colors, the works. They started taking some of them out and holding them up to me, checking the size for any approximate matches. After going through the whole box, we found a few that could fit me.
The ladies went outside as I changed into each of the clothes to see what worked the best. The budget fashion show in which I emerged every couple of minutes in a new outfit progressed through the variety of ridiculous getups. I felt like I was trying on costumes for a themed party.
A few of the options were so flamboyantly garish that I wouldn’t be caught dead in them, so they were thrown out. A couple of others were just slightly too small to the point where it was uncomfortable, and then some more of them just didn’t seem like they would be good on the road.
With the selection having been thoroughly narrowed down, I looked over the last few options available. As I scanned over what was left, I found something that seemed like a good choice. It was a burgundy red coat with a white undershirt. The coat was accented with black embroidery and brass buttons. It wouldn’t appear to get dirty from being on the road, seemed solid in terms of durability and looked pretty sharp.
The fit was nice, and when I took it out to the ladies, they hummed and looked me up and down for a moment. They gave their seal of approval after a few twirls on my part, cementing it as what I would be wearing. With some help picking out a good pair of boots to match, I now had a complete outfit.
My spa day wasn’t over though. The ladies had me sit down and then brought out a bucket of water and some shear-like scissors. They began to wet my hair and even combed my beard, sparingly using the scissors to trim and straighten my beard into a uniform look. The wild parts of my hair were cut back into a clean mid-length design that was simple but noble. I was looking much better than I’ve had in the last month.
With their work done, the pair went on their way after I gave them my thanks. I took the clothes back to my room and placed them on the table to keep them clean and ready for tomorrow. Tomorrow... It was then in the privacy of my room that the situation seemed to gain its true weight.
I’m leaving tomorrow, going right into enemy territory, officially joining a war. I hunched over the table, using it to support most of my weight as I gripped the edges until I was white knuckled. My breaths came in shallow bursts, it felt like a boulder was resting on my chest. I only snapped out of it when the wood started to protest my death grip on it.
I stood up straight again and took a few deep breaths. Panicking would do me no good. I recognize that this is all insane, from beginning to end, but right now I needed to focus, get my mind straight. There was more riding on this than just my own wellbeing.
Now slightly more composed than I had been a minute earlier, I went back out to face the reality of the situation, and that meant having a conversation with my team. I came back outside to the edge of the forest to see them throwing a tarp over the cart, securing everything beneath it. As I approached, they noticed me and welcomed me back with some friendly smiles. I gave them a small smile as well, but it quickly faded back to a more serious expression.
Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.
“I need to have a candid discussion with all of you.” That got their attention, as everyone had now stopped smiling and was looking attentively at me. “I’m sure that you all understand the mission and what we are meant to accomplish in the end, but I need to confirm that you know what will happen during the in between parts as well.”
They looked at each other for a moment before Otar spoke up and asked the important question. “And what do you mean by that?”
I swallowed a little before answering. “When we are out there, in the midst of everything, I may have to do and say things to you that I wouldn’t normally. There may be times where I have to be cruel, treat you like you aren’t a person, just so I don’t break our cover. I need you all to understand this, need you to be prepared for it and know that it is as far from what I actually think as could be.”
They appeared to ponder the implications of their role in this mission a little more. Jorn was the first to respond. “Hmm, I will admit that I hadn’t thought too much about that. Thanks for bringing it up, James. It would have been quite a shock if I only realized it the hard way.”
Everyone else seemed to nod at that, confirming that they now did understand in the fullest extent what would happen. “Good. Now, on another note, while we are out there, I will be assuming a different name. The one that was chosen at random was Arkin Sothalis. You will refer to me as either Mr. Sothalis, Sir, or...” this one hurt me to even say, “Master. My preference would be for the first two, but under no circumstances are you to use my actual name. If you do, it could compromise the entire mission. Understand?”
Everyone nodded and showed general signs of understanding. I decided to end this with some inspiring words. Seemed like the right thing to do. “Very good. Saying that this mission is extremely risky is an understatement, but its importance cannot be forgotten as well. If we manage to pull this off, it may very well mean a turning point in the whole war. Be smart, be adaptive, and we can make it out of this. Let’s all be here to get a drink together after it’s done.”
“Well, if you’re buying, then that’s enough motivation for me,” Otar said with a laugh that seemed to be contagious amongst the group.
I chuckled with them for a moment before answering. “Sure, I’ll buy the drinks, several if that’s what it takes.” Probably going to need them after all this shit is done with.
“For the drinks!” Otar shouted with his fist in the air.
That sent everyone into another fit of laughter as I rolled my eyes at him. He and his brother could be ridiculous at times, but it couldn’t be said that they didn’t know how to lighten a mood. A lot of tension had exited the area, being chased away by a group of friends having one last hurrah before things became complicated.
Once everyone came down from the high, we all went back inside the camp. We organized a time to meet up tomorrow after breakfast so no one would be confused or late. After that, the group split up, the brothers going one way, Holdrem going another, and Kala and I our own, each group having something in mind for relaxing before the big day. For Kala and me, we wanted to spend some more time with the people that we would miss here, namely Sert and Velshi.
We talked to the two of them about it, and they were more than happy to acquiesce to our request, mostly dropping what they were doing to hang out with us. Mostly, because Velshi could be called to heal someone and that took precedent over everything, which was understandable.
We talked about nonsense, which is the best stuff to talk about to get your mind off things. They discussed music, specifically songs that they enjoyed singing, which of course led to some terrible renditions of the songs in question. I even took part in it, giving a horrible performance of some popular music from my world. I could tell that my vocals were cringe worthy, but they enjoyed the lyrics at least.
Sert tried to convey some of the artful things that his people had created using only words. It was obviously difficult for him to do so, trying to speak of their majesty while keeping it in a realm where we could actually visualize it. Grand statues, majestic mosaics, tapestries that took up whole rooms and showed scenes from their history. He spoke with a loving reverence to it, and to me it felt like it had a slight air of melancholy akin to homesickness. I wonder how long he’s been away from home.
We spent a long time together as I absorbed everything they said. It was all novel to me, information about the lives of a people completely different from myself in a world that might as well be alien. I shared what I could about my world whenever it was asked. Velshi wondered how we treated the injured without magic and seemed very interested when I shared what I knew about surgeries and medical procedures. If I mentioned something having to do with technology Sert would jump in and try to get as much information about it as possible. They seemed to find it hard to believe that any of it operated without magical power, which was the normal reaction I had come to expect whenever I attempt to talk about technology.
Eventually the day wound down to its end, and everyone started to go their separate ways. Before they officially left, they both decided to give some final words, as it was likely that we would not see each other again for a long while.
Velshi was the first to speak. “James, I just wanted to tell you that you have been a great student and I am proud to have had the chance to instruct you. You have learned well, and I was frankly surprised by how quickly you have grasped the concept of magic. I believe you have true talent, and no matter how insurmountable the task before you may seem, I know that you of all people can figure it out.”
I appreciated her words of encouragement and gave her a smile to show it. Sert launched into his sendoff almost immediately after. “I would like to thank you for humoring all my requests of you during our experiments. There were a few I was convinced that you would refute, yet you allowed me to do it anyway. For that, I am grateful to you. However, I fully expect you to complete your mission and return to us, you still owe me a few favors after all.”
His smirking face made me chuckle a little, but I could tell that he really did believe I would make it back. “Thank you, both of you. I truly appreciate your support and I'll do my best to complete this mission. I hope you’ll be willing to join me for a few drinks afterwards.”
They both nodded enthusiastically with Velshi responding verbally as well. “Of course, wouldn’t miss it for anything.”
With all that had needed to be said now covered, we exchanged one last set of goodbyes before separating for the last time. Kala and I got something to eat before returning to our room for the night. It was still a little early for sleeping, so we ended up talking with each other for a while. She mostly asked me more questions about my world or the knowledge I had.
I humored her with some explanations of astronomy and the solar system that was present in my reality. She was fascinated with it and wanted to know if it was the same here as well. Frankly, I didn’t know if the solar system in this reality was similar to the one from my own, but the sun was the same, and the moon was similar, maybe a bit smaller. The finer details of the sun's existence as a giant fusion reactor escaped her, but she still enjoyed learning about it.
As the night came into full swing, we did our nightly rituals and got into bed. It was difficult to fall asleep, for both of us. We ended up lying awake for a while, staring idly at the ceiling with one hand wrapped around each other and the other casually tracing paths across the body. When it begins, we will not be able to do this anymore, so we took this moment to enjoy it for as long as possible. The song of the sandman would not be denied though, and we inevitably fell asleep, rushing head long into the next day despite our personal wishes.
The start of the next day was like any other, yet there was pressure in the air that only we could feel. I started putting on my normal clothes when I realized that I needed my new ones. After a little squirming and trouble with the laces, I was suited up and ready to go at a moment's notice.
“You look nice.” Kala commented after I was fully dressed.
“I gave her an appreciative smile. “Thanks, kind of itches though. I’m actually a little jealous of you. You don’t have to wear anything and yet you look amazing all the time.”
She gave a bashful smile as her gaze flittered between the ground and me. “Thank you.” She looked squarely at me now, her smile turning more playful. “Though, I think you would look pretty good without anything on as well.”
My eyes widened a little and I was sure that my face was turning into a tomato. That was a lot more... intense, than she usually went with the banter. She sauntered on by me, clearly pleased by the reaction she got out of me. Just to top it all off, she even let her tail brush up against my thigh. If we weren’t supposed to be somewhere, that might have gotten more of a reaction out of me than just changing color. As it was, I took a few deep breaths to slow my racing heartbeat before finally turning and following her out.
In the interest of avoiding questions from the people I knew, about my wardrobe, I had Kala pick up the food. We ate together, maybe a little faster than what was a comfortable pace, but there was an underlying sense of urgency that perforated our senses that may or may not have been unfounded.
After the food was consumed, we both went to the designated meeting area for our team, which was right at the exit of camp. The brothers were already there and greeted us enthusiastically. We made idle chatter while we waited for Holdrem to arrive. It was about five minutes later that he finally did, and he had Durdan with him as well.
The general walked alongside Holdrem and maintained a more professional demeanor. His presence was the picture of a military leader, and I was sure that if he spoke in a commanding enough voice, I would obey whatever he said. As it was, he just walked up to all of us, stood up straight, and surveyed the small group before him.
After a moment of silence where we all waited for what he would do next, he took a breath and started to speak. “I had planned a speech for you, a droning thing that would probably inspire and bore you in equal measure. Now I no longer see the need for it, for I see the resolve in your eyes. You have made your choice; you understand the risks and rewards of it. So, there will be no speech, instead, I will simply say good luck, and may the gods watch over you.”
I had to stop myself from rolling my eyes at that last part. I just figured it was more for everyone else’s sake than my own. Durdan ended his little talk with a quick salute. While I normally didn’t adhere to returning the salute due to me not being a soldier, I felt it was appropriate to do so now and mimicked it as best as I could alongside everyone else.
Durdan let his salute fall, providing us with the signal to do the same. With one last nod from the general, he turned on his heel and walked back into camp, maintaining his professional posture until he was well out of sight. No one in our group saw the need for additional words after that, we all just looked at one another and gave a nod to each other.
We exited the camp, finding the cart was now hooked up to a pair of horses and awaiting us. There was a handler there for the horses who passed the reigns off to Holdrem while wishing us good luck. Holdrem took his place in the driver's seat, I sat next to him, and the other three found a place to sit in the back. With one last check that everything was here and ready to go, Holdrem cracked the reigns and started to guide the horses through the trees and along a faded path.
We were off. The mission had officially begun. It would be about a day to make it out of the wildlands and into Thrainian territory, but I had a feeling that it would seem like no time at all. I looked behind us at the volcano I had spent so long inside as it slowly got further away. There was a certain feeling that is hard to describe, like moving out of the house you grew up in. My history in that place was mixed, but I had grown to appreciate it. With some effort, I turned back towards the road and stared ahead. There was no going back now.